(1950) The result of the first recorded appearance of pelargonidin, the chemical that gives geraniums their scarlet colouring, in a large-flowered rose … unfortunately, it forms awkward sprays on stems too feeble to support them, and the geranium tones went purple.

Independence was the first rose of Floribunda or Hybrid Tea type in those flaming orange scarlet colours which set rose gardens ablaze in the 1950s and 1960s, much to the regret of the fastidious... it was so different from any predecessor that the German name was 'Kordes' Sondermeldung', or 'Special Announcement'.